Evaluating a student’s

portfolio – a case
example
 2
SUCCESS OR FAILURE ON AN INTERNATIONAL
ASSIGNMENT

DEALING WITH CHANGE & LIFE LONG LEARNING

Withdrawal/Avoidance of Change vs Will to Change/Seek Adventures
SOCIO-CULTURAL COLLABORATION
Isolation vs Participation
PERSONAL PRESENCE
Passivity /Caution vs Initiative/Energy
POSITION ON AUTHORITY
Power/Authority is Assigned vs Power /Authority is Earned
INNER COHERENCE & INTEGRITY
Inner conflict/ fear/ hopeless vs Inner peace/ self-esteem/ hope

Daniel Kealey, 2000

 3
The functions of the portfolios are to:

• Encourage for self-directed acting

• Empower creative thinking

• Facilitate learning of self-reflection and self-

assessment

• Facilitate improving your personal contribution to

teamwork

• Enhance problem solving and proactive behavior

• Improve changing and transformative learning

• Anticipate future learning needs and development

 4

CULTURE
IS A CONTINUOUS INTERACTION
BETWEEN THE IDEAS OF OUR HEADS
AND OUR ACTUAL BEHAVIOUR -
WITHIN OUR CULTURE WE DO
WHAT WE DO BECAUSE
IT IS ” THE RIGHT OR NORMAL” WAY
TO DO THINGS

© Jaakko Lehtonen
 5
SELF - MANAGEMENT
Relationship strategies: How a learner enhance
communication and resolve conflicts ?
A learner’s:
 power to see the situation
 motivation and fear
 perspectives; things (what and why) people (who and
how)
 managing self, people, process and performance
 “opportunities” and points of view on:
- rules, standards, competition, working alone or with team,
- problems, chaos, praise, helping others,
- decision making, change, responsibility, process, etc.
© Mlp, DiSc-tool, Venla Varis
 6
Collaborative learning

 Orientation to collaborate
 Display of respect
 Empathy and Sensitivity
 Interaction management
 Task role behaviour
 Relational role behaviour
 Tolerance for ambiguity
 Interaction posture others
 7
1. Orientation to collaborate
How did Ievo explain herself and world around her ?

• She was “principal center” on the level interdependent.

• She wrote very openly 65 lines with confidence. It was

easy to her to her private self to the co-learners.

• She saw her learning as her life using right side of brain
=wisdom.
• She understood and explained how the various tasks
and principals apply and relate to each others and her
earlier experience

• She showed power or capacity to act. She had vital

energy to make choices and decisions even overcome
deeply embedded habits

• She did realistic self-inquiry using material and self-

assessment tools
V. Varis 2004
- (What was her motivation?)
 2. Display of respect 8

How did Ievo show positive regard for other

learners, tutors etc. ?

• Her lifestyle was proactive, seeking to motivate and serve

others.

• She explained her life experiences in the terms of opportunities

for learning and contribution.

• Her respect attitudes (points 27 from 28) she validated it in her

own life.

• She “listened” by appreciative, comprehensive, discerning,

evaluative or other non-judgmental way
© VenlaVaris 2004
 3. Empathy and Sensitivity 9

How did Ievo understand others’ feelings ?

• She tried to understand others at first ( not to be

understood herself at first) = Inter-depending level

• She was listening (reading) others with intent to

understand (instead ignoring, pretending, selective or
attentive).

• It was not so easy to her to understand co-learners’

feelings and moods

• She did not practice very deeply of tactful and

respectful sensitivity

• She wanted the co-learners to do their part.

( What was her fear ?)
©Venla Varis
 10
4. Interaction management

How did Ievo show key qualification of socio-

cultural know how?

• She values differences by looking for synergy and

public victory

• She is positive and creative

• Her basic coping skills are; communication,

problem solving, flexibility and satisfaction

• She was not a learner that co-learners use to ask

advices from her

©Venla Varis
 11
5. Tolerance for ambiguity

What were Ievo’s reactions in new and

ambiguous situations ( quality and quantity of
discomfort) ? .

• She has a strong need to take charge

• She likes to thrive on the demanding learning

• She has will to help others

• She has motivation to develop solutions

©Venla Varis
 12
6. Task role behaviour

How did Ievo innovate and create ideas and

solve problems in team?

• She used to adapt well

• She utilized previous competence to new

challenges

• She was motivated to see clear visual images in her

mind

• She did not have problem to complete her

©Venla Varis
study tasks
 13
7. Relational role behaviour
• She looked for opportunities to help and contribute

• She was one unique, talented, creative individual in the

midst of many co-learners.

• She works independently and interdependently and can

accomplish many things.

• Her security was a function of the social mirror.

• She was willing to know and understand the opinion of

others = Proactive behaviour.

• She tried to couch and innovate co-learners

 Her team member role was;

Member, Thinker, Jugler, Closer
©Venla Varis
 14
8. Emotional Competence

• She showed awareness of own feelings, self-discipline, flexibility,

innovativeness.
• She was motivated to discover many emotional hints
and understand first other people and only after that becoming
understood by others

• She showed willingness to be of service and developing of

others, anticipating the needs of others, recognizing and
fulfilling and discovering the development needs of others and
promoting their skills

• Her motivation was to collaborate, consciousness of the emotional

flows and empowerment relations

• She understood utilization of diversity

©Venla Varis
 15
9. Transformative learning

 Her focus of learning is life skills and wisdom

- She learned to regocnize and to value her
impacts

 She felt sense of unknown and was able to

compare it to her previous experience with:
- positive emotions
- open mind
- constructive attitudes

 She was able to:

- improve from the level minimization
to acceptance

 her plan is to reach adaptation level ©Venla Varis

world view and empathy
 16

10. Learners’ resource management

Ievo has

 Basic virtual learning skills

 Point of studies: meaning and utilization of
previous experiences
 Motivation, intention and goal choice abilities
 Mastery and performance orientation
 Self-regulative and creative learning
 Transformative learning skills
 Collaborative and co-operative learning skills
©Venla Varis
 17

Levels of Communication (case Ievo)

High
Synergistic (Win/Win

TRUST Respectful (Compromise)

Defensive (Win/lose or Lose/Win

Low
Low COOPERATION High

©S. Covey, 1989

 Team members in Z-process 18
Ievo in collaborative team (Z – prosess)
Informal
Spontaneous
1. 2.
I- D I-S
3.
Conceptual

Normative
Adaptive
Dominant

FACILTATOR
D-C – I-S

4. 5.
D-S C-S

Formal
Methodical

© Mlp,V. Varis 2004

 19
9. Self-ínquiry

Ievo’s socio - cultural competence is on the

level

• Integration- Excellent………………
• Adaptation- Very good X ( 19 points)
• Acceptance Good …………………
• Minimization Satisfied…………….
• Deviant & Defence poor……………

Ievo’s own assessment with reasoning is in her

Portfolio (29 pages) on the level acceptance (18
points)
Her personal development plan is to improve:
-Adaptation and situational awareness
-Proactive way of thinking
-Collective understanding
-Skills to empower team members’ learning

©Venla Varis
 20
QUALITY OF PORTFOLIOS
Flow
Greatest gainers per-
Positive affective and 15 % fec-
volitional experiences tio-
low learner empowerment well nists
done Excellent work 15 %8 %
15 %

Normal performance 13 %
Easy
learning 8 %
OK 4 %
The opponents-
Anxiety 8 %
not motivated 15 %
Negative affective and volitional experiences